Keep in mind however that my posts are based on my observations and are certainly not the end all, be all. I know what I like and dislike. My palate is pretty open.  Final judgement should be yours and yours alone. As always, your mileage may vary.

Now onto our first review - Smoking Sloes.

Smoking Sloes is about 10 minutes away from my house. 11 if I don’t catch the light on Fort Salonga Road. It opened in January of this year yet the first I heard of it was last week on Pigtrip.net. I spent Saturday cleaning up and by the time it was dinner, was in no mood to cook. I was able to convince the Kiddo and my mom who was visiting, to come along for the ride. A big deal since I’m the only one who likes bbq [I’m sure the Kelseynator will like it too, but as of now she doesn’t have any teeth so it’s hard to be sure]. Fortunately they offered burgers for the wife, and my mom was just glad to get out of the house.

Pulling up to their storefront, you notice that it’s fairly small. There are only 9 tables of 4 in the entire place. They’re located along the front window and along one side of the restaurant. The counter takes up 75% of the width which is a good thing since they do alot of deliveries and take out. In fact our “waiter” was also helping out at the counter which wasn’t an issue with there only being 2 other tables occupied. I would hate to see what happens when more tables are taken, calls are coming in and people are walking in placing orders.

We ended up ordering a full rack of baby back ribs, pulled pork and a well done burger. Sides were sweet potato fries, yams and our combos came with coleslaw and cornbread which came out first. The coleslaw looked mayo based but had a vinegary tang to it. It was served in what looked to be 4 or 5 ounce portion cups, and had raisins in it. I’m not a raisin person other than in my bagels so I didn’t have much of the slaw. The burger was up next and was on a bun even though it was ordered without one. A trip back to and from the kitchen and order was restored. Until the Kiddo cut into it. Well done is generally accepted as cooked throughout and this burger had pink in the middle. On the plus side it did have copious amounts of cheese which was the only saving grace and probably why it was eaten and not sent back a second time. [Or I’m finaly rubbing off and the Kiddo realizes medium is the way meat shouild be cooked. Nahhh…]

My pulled pork came out and there was definitely more wrong than right with it. First off, look at it. It’s on a paper plate - more on that later. The pork seemed lifeless as well - it was bogged down by the sauce, imho. It was also on the cold side, nothing too terrible though. There were some good meaty chunks - nice and tender. Not too much of a smoke flavor though. I also expected it to be on the tnagy/vinegary side, but it wasn’t that evident to me. As I dug into the pork, each bite tasted better than the last. Not too sure what that was about. Maybe I was warming up to it? While ordering, I asked our waiter which was better today, the brisket or the pulled pork. He said the pork was always good. Don’t know if I’d go that far but it’s a dish I would definitely order again.

The ribs which were what I was looking forward to the most were utterly disappointing. We ordered a full rack and out came two half racks. Picky? Probably, but I’ve never seen a full rack served this way. Ever. They were also sauced which was totally not my fault for not ordering them dry, but the sauce didn’t cover the entire rack. It looked like the sauce was randomly put on. But the three main downers were: lack of a smoke ring - the ribs weren’t even the pinkish color that I am used to; no smoke ring means no smoke flavor - none, zilch, nada; and the absolute deal breaker - char on a rack of ribs. I only want char on my burger or steak, definitely not on ribs. But I think I know how it got there. Just past the window where the orders come out, you can see a slamander where I think food is heated up. And ribs are somewhat sauced. Since it’s always on, the grill gets hot, ribs put on it cook more than they should along with whatever was there previously and presto - you’ve got char. So I was very disappointed with the ribs to say the least. The yams and sweet potato fries were very good. The cornbread came to the table wrapped in plastic which leads me to believe they aren’t made on premise. Not a big deal but why keep it in plastic?

Then there’s my issue with the paper plates and plastic utensils. If you’re charging me $25 for a rack of ribs, I sure as heck don’t want to see paper plates. I’m not a business person/restaurant owner by any means, but if having a dishwasher and real plates and utensils is not in the budget, perhaps you should reconsider your business plan. At the very least I would expect plastic baskets along with wax paper and real utensils. That does not bug me nearly as much as the paper and plastic does. And I guess that’s why the full rack came out as 2 half racks - they don’t have a plate long enough to hold a full rack in 1 piece.

Next time out will be the brisket and chicken offerings. I may do the take out route to see how long it takes and how the food holds up in transit.

And to eat on real plates.

I can’t wait till the weather gets consistently better and I can grill every evening & fire up the smoker on the weekends.  At that point, I’ll clear the cobwebs off the server and update this site more often.